The Ninja
by Jaderannosaurus Rex
Summary: A tribute to my friend Michael, who makes an epic ninja.


Michael climbed slowly and steadily up the side of the volcano, his footsteps never faltering, not even once. Then, just as he reached the summit, and stood in front of the pit of boiling lava – the video feed cut out.

Immediately there was a huge uproar.

"Okay, okay, I'm fixing it!" I exclaimed, checking that my pc was properly hooked up to Raichu's cheeks. It was.

"Power input's not the problem," I stated. "So maybe it's your camera?"

"Hey!" Deonaé all but shouted. "Just because I bought it second-hand for less than 50 Poké doesn't mean it's not good!"

"I'm just saying," I muttered, beginning to fiddle with various other controls on my pc, "That, since this is a really important event and all, you should've gotten a better camera."

None of my adjusting seemed to be working, so I hit the side of my computer in frustration. Miraculously, it worked – the video feed started loading again.

"I hope we haven't missed anything important," I said.

"It's only been five minutes," Travis pointed out. "What could we possibly have mis–?"

A lot, apparently, as Michael was now standing in front of an awe-inspiring legendary Pokémon (of course, all legendary Pokémon are awe-inspiring, but this one was even more so). It was the raiser of continents, the Ground-type Hoenn legend Groudon.

"I cannot believe that he's really going to fight that thing," I explained. "_And_ without using Pokémon."

"He's insane." Deonaé agreed.

"But then again," I smiled, "what else d'you expect from a ninja?"

Michael surveyed the enormous beast without showing any outward signs of fear. He calmly drew his epic ninja sword – well, it usually looks epic, but next to Groudon it looked like a toothpick. A _blunt_ toothpick.

* * *

><p>Now, before I get any further, I think I should explain the situation here. Michael had decided to fight Groudon for no reason. At least, no logical reason- he literally did it simply to prove that he could. (He knew full well that he couldn't actually <em>defeat<em> Groudon without Pokémon; he didn't even plan on capturing it – everyone knows that catching a Legendary will upset the entire ecosystem and could spell the end for the entire planet. He just wanted to prove that he could survive when faced with it.)

And so this rather unlikely situation had occurred: we were keeping tabs on the events that were taking place via a camera that Deonaé had given to her Staraptor. It was flying high above the battlefield, camera clutched in its claws, and thus we were able to view the proceedings without Michael knowing. This was important, because Michael _really_ hates photos and videos of himself. Seriously, you do not comprehend his hatred for the things.

And I couldn't just sit back, knowing that Michael was going to confront my favourite Legendary and not figure out a way to witness it. What kind of person do you take me for?

But now, seeing Michael draw a sword that was smaller than one of Groudon's claws, I found myself wondering if he would actually survive this.

Michael ran up to Groudon, catapulted off the middle toe on its left foot and sliced viciously on the more vulnerable black skin. Groudon let out a roar of rage that literally shook the entire volcano, and I began wondering if _Hoenn_ would survive this.

Groudon turned around and trundled back into the volcano, blood trickling from its wound. There was an instant of silence.

"Did… did Michael win?" Deonaé asked. "Is Groudon giving up?"

"A Legendary would never give up," I replied.

And I was right, for when Groudon was up to its waist in lava, it whirled around and stared straight at Michael.

The lava around Groudon started to bubble furiously and Groudon flicked his massive tail. As he did so, a huge wave of lava swept towards Michael. He surveyed it without even blinking.

What happened next was so fast that it defied belief. In an instant, Michael had used his sword as a vaulting pole and had effortlessly jumped into the air, where the lava passed harmlessly beneath him.

But of course, what goes up must eventually come down. And with the entire volcano slope covered in lava, there was no safe place for Michael to land. At least, so it appeared to those of us observing via Staraptor-cam.

But evidently Michael saw a safe spot that none of us would ever have dreamed of using. He spun around in mid-air – performed a triple backflip – and landed right on top of Groudon's massive head. There was a collective gasp in my room and I'm pretty sure I heard the sound of Chad munching on some popcorn (after all, this battle _was_ like a movie).

Michael ran down the length of Groudon's head and onto his neck, where he attacked the first strip of less armoured black skin that he encountered.

Groudon started thrashing his head around violently, roaring rather loudly. However, he couldn't stop Michael's attacks as long as Michael was on his head. As a result, Michael got quite a number of stabs in and it was only after a few minutes that Groudon finally managed to move in such a way that Michael flew off his head and into the air.

Groudon moved fast for such a large Pokémon: it was only a few seconds after he had shaken Michael off that he turned around and fire streamed from his mouth. I flinched and closed my eyes, feeling sure that Michael was as good as dead.

However, when I didn't hear lamenting (or sounds of celebration) coming from my peers, I gathered up enough courage to peep.

"_Well,_" I thought, "_That's… unexpected._"

Michael was standing on volcanic rock (the lava had cooled down enough to solidify, although I'm guessing that it was still hot to the touch), holding his sword in his left hand.

Or rather, holding the remnants of his sword, as the entire weapon had been melted in Groudon's flames, although Michael appeared to be completely unscathed. Michael studied the dripping metal before dropping the sword. Staraptor was too high above the ground for us to hear the sound it made and, while experience told me that swords should make a _clang_ sound when dropped, logic told me that the sound it now made would have been more similar to _squish_.

"Well, now what?" I asked. "He can't fight without a weapon…"

Apparently, Michael had other ideas, as he started charging at Groudon.

"Nooooo!" I screamed at my computer screen. "You can't do this! Are you insane?!" I almost tore my hair out in anxiety.

"Um, Jade?" Chad said. "I don't think he can hear you."

Just as I was about to scream something back at him, Michael pulled out a pair of sai and lashed Groudon with them.

"That's new," Deonaé commented.

I silently agreed (I was out of breath from my raging earlier). I didn't remember The Ninja using sai during The Battle of Celadon Casino.

However, he certainly knew how to use them. He was moving so fast that the camera wasn't able to pick up every movement; all I know is that in a very short time frame he had completely lacerated Groudon's legs.

Groudon reacted like one would expect the Pokémon who created continents to: he retaliated.

A huge fissure opened up beneath Michael's feet, ground cracking and magma spewing out from beneath the crust. Fortunately, it moved slowly enough for Michael to safely avoid it and move to a firmer patch of ground.

When Groudon saw that he had failed, it infuriated him even further. He started to trundle back into the volcano and I will admit this was worrisome, as sai are not long enough to be used as vaulting poles, unlike the sword which had saved Michael earlier.

Luckily, The Ninja also realised his predicament and stopped Groudon from repeating the powerful move. He did so by hurling throwing stars at the behemoth's legs.

"What the hell?! Now he has throwing stars as well?!" I said, almost falling off my chair in surprise. "Seriously. Where are all these weapons coming from?!"

Well, wherever they came from, they certainly worked. Groudon stopped in its tracks and turned around to face Michael, a low grumbling sound emerging from deep in his throat.

Again he spewed flames at Michael, who was easily able to dodge the fiery onslaught. However, as he nimbly jumped out of the way he turned back and – he stuck his sai directly into the rushing flames.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled at the screen, reverting to my screaming-at-Michael-because-he's-done-something-utterly-idiotic mode. "Don't you remember what those same flames did to your sword…?"

I then stopped and gaped in awe. The sai blades were now glowing red-hot, but didn't look like they would be melting anytime soon.

"_Ok; so he's not the fool I thought he was. He probably had those sai made from a metal with a really high melting point." _I thought silently._ "Like Titanium."_

The entire sai, handle, blade and all, was made of metal, but Michael didn't even flinch as he gripped what were presumably two super-heated searing sai.

He rushed towards Groudon, brandishing his weapons and launching into an awesome ninja-jump-spinning-attack. But something was bothering me; as he attacked Groudon's legs and underbelly the giant beast was being slowly tired out. That was logical, but there was something else nibbling at the back of my brain, something that I knew was vitally important. Then, as Groudon let out a roar that was not nearly as powerful as his earlier ones, something clicked.

"Michael!" I shouted at him for the third time that day, regardless of that fact that he couldn't hear me (and probably wouldn't have listened, even if he could). "Get outta there!"

Groudon gave a final roar, so weak that the camera barely picked it up. Then, due to a combination of fatigue and injuries on the lower body, he toppled over – and landed right on top of Michael.

* * *

><p>That was late Saturday afternoon. It was now Monday morning, and none of us had heard from Michael since then. English was my first lesson and as I sat in my chair, the empty spot next to me where Michael would usually be was extremely conspicuous.<p>

Then, as the lesson was about to start and I mentally prepared to never see Michael's face again, the door soundlessly swung open.

"Sorry I'm late, Ma'am," Michael said, as he made his way to his seat. He was limping slightly and I could see a few small minor scratches on his face and arms, but that was it.

No major injuries. At all.

I found that very hard to believe, so as soon as I got that chance, I asked him quietly, "I saw Groudon fall on top of you; how are you still breathing?"

He didn't ask how I'd seen (he probably knew about the camera; super-trained instincts or whatever).

Instead he simply smiled and replied, "Ninja skills."


End file.
